A Father's Heart

These quiet, often unproductive, sweet days with Victor are full of lessons about God's fatherly heart.

How precious is every snuggle to me, every tug at my leg, the arms stretched up to be held close.  My heart just bursts with thankfulness when he wraps the crook of his arm around my neck and nestles his head on my shoulder.  To be with him, and for him to rest and enjoy being with me, this is a joy.

How I desire that he would slowly learn what is appropriate and true and good.  Little by little, he mimics: "a-mam" at the end of a prayer ... "Ss-ss" at the end of our bedtime book "most of all Jesus loves you."  How many things there are to build into his little heart and mind--words from God, hymns, prayers.  We love to hear him mimic, but we want the words and ideas to settle deep into his heart and shape his whole life.

So many moments make up a day.  Most of those moments look very ordinary ... toys spread over the floor, a pause before eating a snack, waiting when Momma is busy washing dishes, whining for a bite, listening to a "no touch," dumping out the bag of toys yet again, playing with Tupperware, singing before bedtime.  Great lessons hide within those moments ... lessons in faithfulness and order, prayer, patience, thankfulness, obedience, submission to God, love for His Word, the supremacy of Christ, joy, creativity, good stewardship, grace that comes to us from Jesus.

O Lord, let me be faithful in stewarding these precious days.  Let me delight to reflect You to this little one and see a little more of Your heart in the process.

Pictures

A few recent snapshots (taken from my new camera before the battery died ... for which I have lost the charger.  Sigh.)

Excessively Helpful Laundry Assistant

Victor takes his role as laundry folding assistant very seriously.  He helps me sort laundry in the bedroom.  Then we have to carry it to the laundry room (that's the part where I tend to lose little socks).  Then he helps to throw articles into the washer.  When they are done, we transfer to the dryer (but Victor would prefer to put things back in the washer, because that's his favorite.)  And then we fold.  We have very exciting times.

Taking the laundry basket for a hike

Extremely skilled at putting things in the basket.  This explains why a pig, farmer, sheep, and two rings also ended up in the laundry.  

Side note: I have been trying in vain to video Victor walking for a long time.  He walks all over the place.  He walks 4-5 steps at a time.  He is a walking machine.  But whenever I pull out my camera, it's over...


One of our little games, "Shake It Up, Baby"

New Perspective on Roe vs. Wade

I pray God will bring the transformation to our nation that He brought to the life of this woman.

Ready for Church

All spiffied up.  (Note: Beloved goat in hand)

As I say every week, it's time to go to church, so we can worship Jesus with the other believers! 

Mommy Date

Today Victor and I were out running some errands.  We stopped by Costco and had some time to kill, so we tasted all the samples together, Victor cruised around in the big cart, and then we shared a berry smoothie.

It felt like a "mommy date," and it was great!  (Only one man I'd rather hang out with for such fun one-on-one time!)

And a few snapshots of the little dude (note the favorite red ball...)

Look What I Found in the Laundry Bin

And he did not want to get out.

Making a Difference by Fire

I stumbled across this piece by Pastor John, from 1989.  It is a great encouragement not to settle in for a mediocre and self-absorbed existence:

Author: John Piper

Date Given: October 2, 1989

 

Have you ever prayed a prayer like this?

Lord, let me make a difference for you utterly disproportionate to who I am?

That’s the prayer I wrote in the margin of a book last week beside a quote from David Brainerd. Brainerd was a missionary to the New England Indians 200 years ago. He wrote,

Oh, that I might be a flaming fire in the service of the Lord. Here I am, Lord, send me; send me to the ends of the earth…send me from all that is called earthly comfort; send me even to death itself if it be but in Thy service and to promote Thy kingdom.

Brainerd has made a difference for God utterly disproportionate to who he was. He was an obscure missionary in New England. He died at the age of 29. He was not well known. He was extremely vulnerable to depression. But his life has inspired the modern missionary movement perhaps more than the life of any other person in modern times. Why?

He was so aflame for God that Jonathan Edwards felt led by God to put Brainerd’s brief missionary career of five years and his journal into a book. And that book has changed the world. It is amazing what God can do through a short life ablaze for his glory. The impact can be all out of proportion to who a person is.

I hope hundreds of you pray, “O, Lord, let me make a difference for you utterly disproportionate to who I am.” This is a prayer that the so-called nobodies in the world can pray without fear of presumption. The prayer contains a disclaimer: “I am not great. But you, Lord, are very great. And in your astonishing sovereignty you can let my little life make a difference far beyond all my little powers.”

But what is the key to making a difference for God? Is it not flaming zeal for God? Twice God asked Elijah, “What are you doing here?” And he answered both times, “I have been very jealous for the Lord of hosts.” (1 Kings 19:10, 14). Passion for the glory of the Lord is not the prerogative of old or young, intelligent or simple, men or women. It can be the heart of any saint—if we want it enough to seek it.

It comes from prayerful immersion in Scripture. In Luke 24:32 the disciples who had talked with Jesus on the Emmaus road said, “Did not our hears burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” The fire of zeal for the Lord comes from the opening of Scripture in conversation with Jesus (=prayer).
 
Question: If you do not burn with the zeal you want, are you willing to make some experiments with high-dosage, extended-time Bible opening? Very honestly, there is in my own life a close correspondence between the time and amount of prayerful Bible opening and the depth and strength and warmth of my zeal for God. I am very vulnerable to worldly mindsets without massive doses of God’s Word. One church in Korea expects its members to read 5 chapters of the Bible a day and its pastors to read 20 chapters of the Bible a day. The question is: if you want it, are you willing to make serious experiments?

I am praying that Bethlehem be full of people who burn for the glory of God, and who make a difference for God utterly disproportionate to who they are. Let’s pray it for each other!

Getting near the Fire with you,
Pastor John

Sweet Family Day

Monday was a day off for both Ben and me--and it ended up being such a great family day together.

Victor gets really punchy-happy when Daddy's home and we're all together, so he was in fine spirits.  We had pancakes and eggs for breakfast (which made the menfolk happy), and then I made a quick trip to Savers and snagged some great clothes deals for all of us (minus the jeans for Daddy which apparently had shrunk beyond their stated size).  

 Then we decided to make a trip to Ikea, to window-shop and dream how to spend our Christmas gift card from Uncle Jon.  We had a super fun time browsing and got really excited about some new shelving ideas.  To top it off, they were having a deal that if you spent $100, you could eat for free in the restaurant.

So we headed home for some final measuring, strategizing, (and naptime), and then went back to Ikea.  For me (the cheapskate), it was fun having a blank check to get dinner at the restaurant.  I enjoyed my chicken strips, fries, salad, and chocolate milk.  Ben felt that the ribs, fries, and corn bread were better than the last time, and Mr. Victor dug into his mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and cooked carrots with gusto.  (To top it off, we got dessert to go, and the cashier said we could even throw in a 6-pack of cinnamon rolls and some candy bars to boot!)

After making our home organizational purchases (photos to come, when we get it all fixed up), we headed home, put Victor down for bed, and then wrote thank you notes while watching something together, all cuddled up on the couch.

It was a freezing cold day, but that left me with a sweet warm thankful feeling for sure.

Pastor Transition

Sunday night we installed our new Pastor for Preaching & Vision at Bethlehem Baptist, Jason Meyer.

How we praise God for His work in this transition!

Birthday Party

Today we had a little birthday party for Victor.  It was a low-key affair, but very special to celebrate with some family, neighbors, and friends.

The snack spread

It's a surprise to no one that Victor loves the tissue paper best...

Victor's first experience with cake.   

He was somewhat sober-minded about the whole affair, uncertain about the great messiness of the food,

but upon further consideration, he decided that cupcakes are a valuable part of his dietary experience.

Fun times playing with friends

Daddy shared from 1 Corinthians 15 about the reason why we chose the name Victor. 

But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 How thankful we are for Jesus, the Great Victor over sin and death, and how we pray that He will claim Victor's heart and life and make him another great trophy of His grace.

The New Radio Flyer

What a fabulous birthday present!  Thanks, Grammy and Grandad!

Jumping for Joy

Bathtime

Victor is a hoot when taking a bath.

And I sound like an absolute dork. But anyway, watch the cute kid and turn your volume off, and it's great!

Active Eater

This video combines a variety of Victor's hilarious attitudes into one.

Good times.



We love this little guy.

A-bobbin'

One of Victor's new Christmas presents is a chicken that makes fun farm songs and sounds.

Ben taught Victor how to bob his head along with the music.  Now he bobs his head regularly--especially if someone else does it when he's watching.  Yesterday I was blowing on a bite of food for him (and apparently moving my head back and forth), and that got him going.  It cracks us up.

Emerging Again

I feel like a bear coming out of hibernation.  It was only a week of sickness, but having energy again makes me feel like tackling some big spring cleaning project or something.

In celebration, here is a fun video of Victor, showing off some new vocabulary (it pretty much ends at 0:22, but I was trying to see if he'd wave "hi" or "bye" to no avail).

Long Week

Well, it was a character-building week.

Last Sunday night I started coming down with something.  I felt just kinda sick on Monday, but it was downhill from there.

Victor is wondering what happened to Momma, since I'm normally doing a little more than lying on the floor curled up in a fleece blanket during his waking hours.  But the Lord was faithful, and we're on the upswing now.

The little birthday party we planned for V Saturday needed to be pushed back, so we'll give it another try next Saturday.

My parents couldn't make it next week, so they came up this weekend anyway for a little birthday celebration.  He is tickled pink with his new Radio Flyer wagon!  (Video to come.)

One Small Step for Mankind

Well, three times today Victor was standing independently, and took a few steps.

I don't think he really noticed, but I can see that his crawling days are nearing the end!

In other news, I have joined the 97% of people in the world currently suffering from a cold.  Just a nasty, snotty, headachy, used-up-two-boxes-of-kleenex, tired, foggy-brained variety.  But praise Jesus, neither Ben nor Victor have yet picked it up. 

Ben started student teaching last Thursday, so his scheduled has ratcheted up in intensity.  I'm realizing how nice his flexible schedule was for me--and Victor misses having Daddy around.  But it's exciting to enter this phase and anticipate his completion in June.

(Sorry, I just realized the title isn't even the right phrase... it's supposed to be, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."  See note about foggy-brained cold above.) 

Birthday in Photos

First things first, blue chair pictures...

We headed off to church and then home for a nap (not pictured).

Blue chair pictures reattempted in the afternoon... (balloon from the neighbor upstairs)

Um, no pants on

A few presents from Mom and Dad

Being somewhat like a hobbit (who give gifts on their birthday), Victor also got Daddy a present.

No cake yet, but because Mommy loves Victor verydeeply, 

she made him her most favorite food... cinnamon rolls!

He was uncertain at first, but through some cautious exploration came to determine 
that he does like both eggs and cinnamon rolls.

Note the frosting adorning his head... just in time for bath.

One of Victor's "happy" things is to stick out his tongue and have you stick out yours.  Cracks him up every time.

 

 

A new bedtime story, and off to bed.

Victor says thank you to many people who love him and wanted him to have a special birthday!